A Yoga Newsletter

Vol. 6, No. 3

Fall, 2006

Fall is upon us, and the pace of our lives could be compared to the squirrels scurrying around outside, gathering, eating, and burying for the future.  Our practice gives us pause, unless we also scurry through that.  At the Studio, we pause for an OPEN HOUSE on November 10.  On a Friday evening we come together, to honor long-time students of Riverbend Yoga Studio and Voice Movement Therapy Institute.  We are in our fifth year at this location, and there are many people who have been around for some or all of that time or even longer.  We celebrate your commitment to your practice, and we welcome new students on their way to becoming long-time students.  Enjoy finger food, beverages, song, music, dance, photo-taking and FUN.  Come, bring a friend, bring a musical instrument if you play one, and celebrate with us.

There are still a few openings for the February yoga retreat to Villas Shanti in Mexico.  Remember how dark and long February is in Minnesota; you could be on the beach or in the ocean when you’re not practicing yoga in a palapa surrounded by tropical flowers.

The first group of teacher trainees who started back in 2004 has finished their training.  Almost all have finished their practice teaching and are certified through Riverbend Yoga Studio and eligible for registration with Yoga Alliance, a national organization which sets standards for yoga schools.  I am proud of these eight women, who brought patience, motivation, creativity and integrity to their studies.  They will certainly inspire others as they go on to teach.  One of them, Kris Ahern, is teaching here at the studio on Tuesdays.  Drop into her class, or join it on a regular basis and see for yourself.  Kris will also assist me on the Mexico retreat.

A new Teacher Training will begin sometime soon, probably in winter, as soon as we have eight students.  Currently there are six.  The training is in two parts: 1. Yoga Intensive and 2. Teaching skills and philosophy.  You don’t have to aspire to become a teacher to enroll.  Being part of the Yoga Intensive helps to deepen your own practice, tailoring it to your changing needs, while enlarging your perspective on what a yoga practice is.  There is an emphasis on taking your practice off the mat and into the rest of your life, as we delve into yoga philosophy and the guidelines it offers.

How we live our lives and respond to things that happen around us creates karma, the fruits of our actions.  This brings me to the topic that my heart is pressing me to write on: our response to events.  We often do not control events around us, but we do control our response.  The tragedy in Pennsylvania earlier this month is an example.   A tormented and out of balance man, armed with a gun, entered a one-room schoolhouse in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, where he shot ten young girls, killing five of them, before turning the gun on himself.  Five innocent, peace-loving girls are dead; others will live with physical and emotional wounds; families have lost daughters.  The crime is so heinous, that it makes the response even more remarkable.  Remarkable?  Nay, unbelievable.  The response of the Amish community must be noted, must be commented upon, and really should be the headlines of major newspapers.  This is news:  PEOPLE RESPOND TO VIOLENCE WITH LOVINGKINDNESS, COMPASSION AND EQUANIMITY.  If you lost your daughter in such a way, would you bring food and forgiveness to the family of the man who did it?  Would you be able to recognize their suffering and feel it?  With all the verbiage about warring religions these days, the Amish community has put into practice what every religion preaches: love your enemies, do good to those who harm you.  It is one thing to refrain from responding in anger; it is even more newsworthy to reach out in love to those from whom the hurt came.  It is always easy to blame, to proclaim our innocence, and to seek revenge or retribution, often thinly disguised as justice.  Nothing will bring those little girls back.  Can their deaths and the response of their community teach us something—can these simple people hold up a mirror for us?

Yoga—not a religion, but a science of life—teaches that there are obstacles in our mind which keep us from seeing clearly, leading to misunderstanding and suffering.  It also teaches how to reduce those obstacles.  One such way is to cultivate equanimity.  Equanimity means not being thrown off balance by events beyond our control, be they wondrous or disastrous.  It means not reacting out of passion or haste or a thirst to get even.  It means staying true to the principles you believe in and consulting your heart and your brain before you act.  It means treating everyone with equal regard.  This is not easy.  It is very difficult.  We have to practice.  We have daily opportunity to practice because things do not always go as we desire.  The response of the Amish came naturally to them, because it is the way they live their lives on a daily basis.  Equanimity is their habit.  And so they are truly a bright candle shining forth and giving light to a world in darkness.  May this light awaken us, as individuals, as a community, and as a nation.  News of violence is quickly forgotten as it is replaced by more news of new violence.  Let us not forget this response, this recognition that we all suffer and that only love and compassion can heal.

Maggie